We will be staying at the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino and would like ideas on reasonably priced meals. Nothing fancy. Can anyone recommend the MUST do's and don't bothers? We
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Cat:Caribbean and the AtlanticForum:0EE6B322
Cat:Caribbean and the AtlanticForum:0EE6B322Discussion:a5bf99b5-04e3-4ce2-889a-ed04f47e8e49
We will be staying at the Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino and would like ideas on reasonably priced meals. Nothing fancy. Can anyone recommend the MUST do's and don't bothers? We only have 5 days. Thanks
You can have a wonderful chicken dinner at LaGranja, which is just a few blocks down from the Renaissance Hotel. The meal for 2 will be about 18.00 for a whole chicken, saffron rice and coleslaw.
You have to go to the Flying Fishbone and reserve a table on the beach at sunset - it's WONDERFUL. Madame Janette's and LePetit Cafe are other great places that we loved. Highly recommend all. Renaissance is a great hotel - it's the only one in town (vs. on the other end of the island wehre the rest are grouped on the Low Rises and High Rises) so you can walk to everything in Oranjestad or take a cab easily (Flying Fishbone requires a cab or car but it's worth it). The Banana Bus tour is fun for the daytime to see everything. At night, if you're looking to party with other tourists, it's an option, too. Take the hotel's ferry out to the private island and enjoy beach time as much as you can - it's quiet, peaceful and relaxing. You can hear/see the planes in and out of the airport but it's kind of neat. The people are friendly and the hotel staff is very helpful. Enjoy!!
I did Horizon Tours Jeep adventure & loved it. You get to see most of the island, not just the hotel beach. You see the lighthouse, the natural rock bridge & go up & down hills 4-wheeling in a jeep tour. The guide was very personable & we ate lunch at a little local restaurant which was yummy Aruban food. Most of the island is arrid & filled with cactus & very old churches or bldgs. Was very interesting & great fun!
Not very many cheap restaurants in Aruba but the cheapest way to get around is take their local bus, like to downtown or around the island. We took it to Baby Beach to go snorkeling & downtown for shopping. Couple of bucks to get around vs paying $20-50 bucks in cab fare & it runs regularly by hotels. Just ask the hotel staff about the bus schedule.
What you're trying to do is hard, because Aruba is full of truly excellent (&expensive) restaurants. For a reasonable but special night out, go to the French Bistro. Another one is PureBeach, at the Aruba Phoenix-- it's beautiful, beachy, with lots of reasonable (and even cheap) menu selections. Amadeus is also good. If you can splurge on one gorgeous, romance-soaked night out, Marandi is a great choice-- it's on the beach, so if you go at 7 pm you'll catch the sunset.
I highly recommend Cuba's Cooking which is now located in the Renaissance Mall and the Old Cunucu House which features Aruban food. Had great dinner at both restauraunts and there is fabulous entertainment at Cuba's Cooking. Be sure to enjoy a mojito there.
Smokey Joes great meal, great menue and a great value. If you are into buffet they have a good one at the Marriott Beach resort. They have a breakfast and dinner buffet.
For a good day of the open water try the Jolly Pirate snorkling tour. It is from 9:00am until 2:00pm and they serve lunch and drinks and have a rope swing after lunch in a nice cove.
We're home and had a wonderful time, thanks in part to many of your posts. We did eat at Cuba's Cooking-very good meal. Also ate at Iguana Joe's, Iguana Cantina, Moomba and twice in the hotel- one lunch, one breakfast. All reasonably priced. The private island from the hotel was beautiful- a special day with the flamingos. Once we figured out the bus system we roamed freely. We did a jeep tour with Watapana Aruba. Would not reccomend them as the Jeeps were in very bad shape and the guide, while nice, did not have much to say. The sites were beautiful and worth seeing. Just would have preferred a seatbelt that wasn't rusted and nonfunctional and no oil on the seat that ruined my clothes. Thanks again for all your advice. Hoping to back again, soon!
